Ion beams have been used in the past for many purposes and have been generated in different ways. The ion beams have a number of uses. One such use involves secondary ion mass spectroscopy studies in which an object is bombarded with an ion beam to knock (sputter) particles off the surface of the object to permit analysis of the particles.
Ion beams are useful where it is desired to sputter or etch an object. The technique may be used for sputtering or milling very fine patterns in integrated circuitry. In some cases, plasma etching (dry etching) has been used to yield extremely fine patterns in wafers by a combination of ion and chemical removal of material.